The Fear Game
by CardaHugg
Summary: "The TARDIS always seemed to have a problem with Clara." Can be seen as Clara/12 romance or friendship. Chapter 2 coming soon!


It was no secret the TARDIS disliked Clara. It would hide her room and create a maze every time the Doctor wasn't looking. It would destroy her clothes and giver her nothing to wear but rags.

Clara would vent to the Doctor, but he would say that was just the TARDIS' way of playing, and that it meant no harm.

It took a life threatening situation for him to find out he was wrong.

They had just come back from a planet where it rained constantly, and Clara was drenched. She, surprisingly, found her room easily, and quickly made her way to the closet. All of her clothes were there, even the fancy skirts and dresses.

She smiled and changed into a more dry outfit. As she was reaching for the doorknob, it disappeared.

Clara frowned and tried to push open the door, and when that didn't work, she tried to ram it open with her shoulder. This only resulted in a bruised shoulder and an immovable door.

She called for the Doctor, and she heard him approach the door.

"Clara, what is taking so long? Are you putting that gooey stuff on your eyelashes again?"

She rolled her eyes. "No! The TARDIS won't let me out!"

"That's ridicu-" He cut himself off as his attempt to open the door failed. "Unlock it!"

"I can't!" She yelled.

The door then went from a wooden board, to a slab of glass. The Doctor was staring at Clara intently.

"What did you do?" He asked, frowning.

"I didn't do anything!"

Before Clara could yell anything farther, she heard a noise emanating from behind her. She whipped around to find a woman standing there. After closer examination, Clara realized that the woman looked familiar.

"Mum?" Clara asked, her voice small and squeaky.

"Clara, this is the TARDIS playing tricks on you! Don't pay attention to her!" The Doctor shouted.

Clara didn't seem to hear him and took a step toward her mum. Her mother's face contorted from an expression of warmth to a burning anger. She walked to Clara and slapped her.

Clara heard the slap before she felt it. When her brain finally caught up, she looked up in shock, tears making tracks down her cheeks. Her mother stood there, indifferent.

The Doctor's face was one of horror. "Listen, Clara! She's not your mum!"

Clara's mother spoke her first words. "You were always a disappointment to me and your father, but you running around with this madman makes us ashamed. You were never our child, and you were never good enough."

With that, she vanished, only to be replaced with a scene of war.

In the middle of the battlefield stood a lone figure, their silhouette dark against the setting sun. Clara rushed toward them, determined to find out what the hell was going on.

As she came closer, she found that the figure was, in fact, the Doctor, clutching his side.

"Oh, thank God! I was wondering where you were!" She ran over to him and hugged him.

At this point, the real Doctor had figured out what was going on. The TARDIS was making Clara go through her worst fears. He banged on the glass, but to no avail. Clara could not hear him.

Clara could not see him either, so she had no idea the Doctor she was with was not real.

Fake Doctor collapsed, and Clara panicked. "Are you okay? What happened?"

He looked up at her with such fury and malice, she recoiled in shock.

"You did this," he spat. "You are such a disappointment. To think that my former self loved _you_! He was an idiot, and now you've killed me!"

"I didn't..." Clara trailed off when she noticed the bloody knife in her hands. "Oh, God!"

Fake Doctor spoke again. "I wish I never had met you. I completely understand your mother's pain now. You are repulsive to look at, and you're bossy and loud. Why on earth did I ever want to travel with you?"

It was that final blow that tore Clara apart. She sobbed and watched as the Doctor died, pleading with the universe to let him regenerate. But it seemed the Doctor was out of time, and luck.

The scene shifted again. This round brought Clara onto an icy, foreign planet. The Doctor (the real one) couldn't tell where, but he knew something was going to happen.

He saw Clara step forward, and could only watch in horror as the ground cracked beneath her foot, and she plunged into a freezing lake. He cried out, forgetting for a moment that it wasn't real.

She dragged herself out, luckily, and gasped as she lay on soft snow. A shadow fell over her, and she squinted to see them.

Another Fake Doctor had emerged, and he was staring down at her with the same cruelty the other one had. She didn't seem to notice, and smiled in relief when she determined it was him.

"Thank God you're here! I was wondering where you'd run off to!" She laughed. "Can you help me up?"

"No." Fake Doctor No. 2's harsh voice made Clara pause before she stood on her own.

"Right, sorry. I forgot about the whole, 'no touching' thing." Clara dusted herself off and looked at the Fake Doctor again.

"I meant, 'no', as in 'no' you can't be here. I can't stand it when you're here," Fake Doctor snapped.

Clara didn't have time to voice her confusion as Fake Doctor shoved her back into the hole she had climbed out of. She didn't have time to scream before she was underwater and suffocating.

The real Doctor watched her struggle for air. "Alright, she's had enough! Let her go!" He shouted at the TARDIS.

The glass lifted, and the snowy terrain of the planet disappeared, leaving Clara a shaking mess on the floor. He ran over to her and squatted in front of her.

"Clara?"

She looked up, and her eyes were filled with tears. She launched herself at him and he didn't hesitate to return her hug, no matter how uncomfortable he was.

He felt the shoulder of his suit getting wet, but he couldn't care less at the moment. He buried his face in her hair and held her tighter.

"I thought you weren't the hugging type?" The muffled question took his by surprise, but he replied smoothly.

"I thought I didn't get a vote?"

She gave a sort of relieved sob, and they eventually pulled apart, just staring at each other.

"Well, I'll go make some tea, and we can talk about it, or we can pretend like nothing happened. Your choice," the Doctor said gently.

He took her hand and led her to the kitchen, trying to remember which cabinet the best tea was in.


End file.
